Recently I received in the mail a pair of colorful and intriguing magazines labeled “Clubblatt fischertechnikclub.nl” .  It turns out these were two of the latest fan publications from the Dutch fischertechnik Club.  A quick Google search took me to their official website:  http://www.fischertechnikclub.nl/ where I immediately found an abundance of even more great material.  Although the magazines I received were written entirely in German, the website itself is in fact written in Dutch, but also features some sections which can be translated into English by selecting the proper flag in the top right corner of the page. For the sections I wasn’t able to translate on the website itself, I simply copied and pasted blocks of text into Yahoo Babel Fish (http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_txt).  Among the assortment of great models featured on the site– all constructed by club members—were the following:

A model of the Buda-Brucke Bridge in bruseels, where the center can raise and lower.

Another bridge model, this one based on a drawbridge known as the “Wiecker Holzklappbrucke”.

A clock built by using primarily components from the new Profi Dynamic kit, which uses ball bearings to indicate the time almost to the second.

And even some that are just a bit more ‘fun’, such as this model of a Formula One Race Car.

You can find out more about the Profi Dynamic Kit by clicking here. A few sample fan club magazines may even be downloaded from the following page:

http://www.fischertechnikclub.nl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=74&Itemid=90&lang=en

Again, even if your Dutch and German language skills are not up-to-speed, you can easily translate blocks of text just as I did, using the Yahoo Babel Fish page (http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_txt). While in most cases specific, step-by-step directions are not provided for building these exact models, the wealth of clear photographs will still provide ample insights and resource material to the experienced fischertechnik builder, as well as a springboard for creative inspiration. Either way, it is just another indication of the types of highly sophisticated and advanced models which can be built using fischertechnik, and also of the wealth of material that can be found with just a little searching on the internet.

If you are looking for fischertechnik kits or spare parts, you can find them here.

Enjoy!

Author: Lance Zurek